Where is the MedTech industry going? A brief report from the MassMedic conference held Friday, November 1 at UMass Boston, follows:

The top ten segments for device development over the next 5 years will not change; the leaders are in vitro diagnostics, cardio, diagnostic imaging, ortho.

R&D is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 3.9%, remaining on average at about 6% of sales; but the top twenty companies will spend at a higher rate.

M&A deals are way off during the first half of 2013; the vast majority of medical device deals still happen in the US.

Similarly, medtech financing is constricted, with a smaller number of smaller deals. There were eight medtech  IPOs world-wide, 6 in the US, in 2013 to date, dwarfed by the number of biotech deals. Leading states for financings: California, followed by Massachusetts (but following pretty far behind).

Seventeen emerging companies pitched to the assembled hoard of investors, entrepreneurs and service providers, at all stages of development. Fields included: regeneration of damaged body parts; software for patient monitoring; imaging, cancer treatment, various diagnostic technologies, orthopedics.

Compared to last year, presenters have learned their lessons: all came prepared to discuss reimbursement and time-lines. Less whining about FDA delays. Reimbursement codes and pricing models to appeal to doctors and to fit into insurance regimes were discussed prominently, along with (of course) focus on patient outcomes.